SYTYCD Doesn't Make You Feel Dirty

Ted over at BSYTYCD doesn’t want SYTYCD being treated like some sordid little reality show you’re embarrassed to tell your friends about. He thinks you ought to be “proud that you enjoy watching dedicated, talented young artists grow under the tutelage of respected professionals.”

I agree. SYTYCD is not your average reality tv show. Unlike other shows where humiliation of the contestants is a big part of the entertainment, SYTYCD is all about the dancing. It’s a classy reality tv show.

Though he calls it a guilty pleasure, Myles McNutt at Cultural Learnings also notes the show’s qualities, comparing SYTYCD to “Dancing with the Stars”, which is more about celebrities looking foolish than it is about dancing, and unlike the contestants on “American Idol”, Miles says, the dancers on SYTYCD are forced to expand their range and perform new styles. 

HuffPo culture writers Jodi Lipper and Cerina Vincent report that they “enjoy watching trashy reality shows as much as the next girls”, though they admit that it’s sorta-kinda bad for people. Their piece “Five People Reality Shows Hurt Most” is tongue-in-cheek, and yet I often find myself comparing SYTYCD to other shows by the level of human pain on display.

SYTYCD just isn’t about the nasty, and for that, I love it. Sure, the judges can be harsh, but it’s more about honest, constructive feedback than it is about humiliation. The dancers are treated like technicians and artists whose medium happens to be their bodies, and the guys’ bodies are subject to as much attention as the women’s.

So what’s the worst reality tv show ever? Average Joe is a world of shame. “Family Jewels” is better than it has a right to be (damn you, Gene Simmons), and “Family Business”? Let’s not even go there. “Flavor of Love” is the bottom of the barrel for me. I confess to being glued to it once or twice, watching most of an episode while cringing in fascinated disgust.

The real test: I don’t feel the need to take a shower after I watch SYTYCD.